Puddle Jumping in DCtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-5179352012-01-24T18:44:16-05:00finding joy on and off the matTypePadPuddleJumpingInDchttp://feedburner.google.comHigh Tea at the Mayflower Hoteltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c638753ef016300107435970d2012-01-24T18:44:16-05:002012-01-24T18:56:55-05:00Back in July, on a total whim, I purchased a Groupon for tea for 2 at the Mayflower Hotel in DC. The above photos were taken during and immediately following Maya's first fancy afternoon tea. My original intention for tea was as a birthday treat. But the end of October was so full of birthday and Halloween that fancy tea didn't make the cut. Barely a blink later, we found ourselves in January with the Groupon expiration looming and having read a few reviews of the Mayflower that tea wasn't really child friendly after all. I almost passed the Groupon on via the neighborhood listserv, but another mom convinced me to just get dressed up and go. Verdict: No, it's not really child-friendly, at least not for 4-year-olds. The staff was professional, but not warm. I'm guessing that I'm not the only person who purchased a Groupon explicitly to take...Jen Muellerhttp://puddle-jumping.com/2012/01/high-tea-at-the-mayflower-hotel.htmlGreen Your Cycle in 2012 with Reusable Feminine Hygiene Productstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c638753ef016760ebc7f1970b2012-01-22T10:06:14-05:002012-01-23T08:23:25-05:00For this month's Green Moms Carnival, "Resolutions to Fight Climate Change" hosted by Strocel.com, I'm getting personal, really personal. But let's start with the big picture: E-Magazine reports that, in 1998, 6.5 billion tampons were thrown in the garbage or flushed into our already overburdened sewer systems and 13 billion disposable menstrual pads were thrown away. The Center for Marine Conservation reported that more than 170,000 plastic tampon applicators polluting our oceans were collected during beach cleanups in 1998 and 1999. Most disposable menstrual products are virgin paper products and deforestation in the tropics accounts for nearly 20 percent of human-generated, climate-changing carbon emissions. Add the global warming and trash concerns to worries about dioxin, a cancer-causing bi-product of bleaching paper and cotton, and many women are choosing reusable menstrual cups instead of disposable tampons (brands and resources outlined below the jump). While feminine hygiene products may not be the...Jen Muellerhttp://puddle-jumping.com/2012/01/green-your-cycle-in-2012-with-reusable-feminine-hygiene-products.htmlIf You Give a Mom a Muffintag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c638753ef0162ffc8bdf1970d2012-01-18T09:25:30-05:002012-01-18T14:22:23-05:00The poem below was emailed to me this week. If you are a parent who's read the "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" book series by Laura Numeroff, this may strike a cord. If You Give A Mom A Muffin by Kathy Fictorie If you give a mom a muffin, She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She’ll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She’ll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she’ll find dirty socks. She’ll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, She’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She’ll look for her cookbook (“101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger”).** The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail....Jen Muellerhttp://puddle-jumping.com/2012/01/if-you-give-a-mom-a-muffin.htmlWhere Is Your Old Cell Phone? U.S. E-Waste Across the Globetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c638753ef0167609f833a970b2012-01-16T08:41:18-05:002012-01-18T14:19:36-05:00Originally published on Care2. Were you one of the millions of Americans to get an upgrade to one of your electronic devices this holiday season? You know you are not alone, of course. According to the Electronics Take Back Coalition, consumers in the United States will replace approximately 400 million consumer gadgets this year. Tiny Fraction of Obsolete Electronics Are Recycled Do you have any idea what happens to all the old cell phones, laptops, vcr players and other obsolete electronics we discard every year? Approximately 14 percent of those devices will be “recycled,” but e-waste recycling in the United States usually means exporting electronics to developing countries and what actually happens to the materials and the workers at recycling facilities is poorly regulated and sometimes completely unknown. Some electronics will be broken down to recover valuable metals from its components and some will get a second life in the...Jen Muellerhttp://puddle-jumping.com/2012/01/where-is-your-old-cell-phone-us-e-waste-across-the-globe.htmlProbably Not Going with the Zombie Nativity Scenetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c638753ef0162fd3b0095970d2011-12-02T07:43:54-05:002011-12-02T07:47:51-05:00One of the benefits, in my opinion, of having never spent the Christmas holidays in your own home is that you do not have to decorate. Photo (and exhibit) courtesy of the National Park Service We make special trips to see the lavish decorations at the U.S. Botanic Gardens and around the Whitehouse elipse and enjoy the tree and decorations at my parents' and sister's houses, but haven't ever bothered to decorate our own home. There's a chance that I'm not off the hook this year (plans are very much up in the air) and it's got me thinking decorations contingency plan. What I do know is that I'm not going with this motif: If it works for you, however, a zombie nativity set can be purchased from fetishforethics on Esty.Jen Muellerhttp://puddle-jumping.com/2011/12/probably-not-going-with-the-zombie-nativity-scene.htmlGas in the water, toxins in the baby shampoo, coal ash in Lake Michigan!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c638753ef0162fc2efdf3970d2011-11-07T08:00:00-05:002011-11-06T17:09:26-05:00Found myself writing about chemicals out of place. Recently on Care2: My Water’s On Fire Tonight [Video] Recent reports reveal that hydraulic fracturing, a form of natural gas drilling that involves injecting toxin-laden water deep underground, may have been responsible for earthquakes in England and Oklahoma and the Environmental Protection agency announced that it will investigate the drilling method’s impact on drinking water. . . Read more. Toxic Chemicals in U.S. Baby Shampoo, Why? It’s pretty clear that formaldehyde, used to embalm corpses, is not a health elixir. What’s less clear is why Johnson & Johnson thinks it’s a good idea to put this carcinogen in baby shampoo. . . Read more. Powerplant Mudslide Dumps Coal Ash into Lake Michigan Just weeks after the U.S. Senate voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate the disposal of coal ash, what’s left after coal is burned in a power...Jen Muellerhttp://puddle-jumping.com/2011/11/gas-in-the-water-toxins-in-the-baby-shampoo-coal-ash-in-lake-michigan.htmlThe one where I discuss football, sort oftag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c638753ef014e8c26949d970d2011-10-10T06:22:16-04:002011-10-10T06:26:18-04:00Well, it does take a major solar array on a stadium to get me to blog about football, but that's what the Redskins recently installed here in the DC metro area. So I wrote not one, but two articles about it: Washington DC’s Football Team Goes Solar – VIDEO ... starting this fall, Washington Redskins' FedEx Field will draw 20% of game day power from their newly installed parking lot solar array. On off days, solar will provide 100% of the stadium's power. read more on Care2 And then I discuss possible motives on the part of Redskins owner Dan Snyder: Redskins Go Solar at FedEx Field with NFL's Largest Installation Love him or hate him, you know Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder makes shrewd business decisions. That's among the reasons the new solar panels at FedEx Field are turning heads. Snyder entered a contract this summer with... read more...Jen Muellerhttp://puddle-jumping.com/2011/10/the-one-where-i-discuss-football-sort-of.html